


i'll show you my secrets (if you show me yours)

by Junipher



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-14
Updated: 2017-10-14
Packaged: 2019-01-11 01:45:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12312216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Junipher/pseuds/Junipher





	i'll show you my secrets (if you show me yours)

So Talia totally told me a secret at lunch today.

She said that Ross—pretty much the hottest, most popular guy in the school—is caught up in a motorcycle gang.

Can you believe it?

How did Talia find out? Well, that's a funny story.

So on Saturday, she was running some errands for her mom, and she went to the grocery store. And she saw Ross hanging out near the back door of the store. He looked really nervous. But then when he saw her, someone from the school, he tried to look totally cool ("Which was really weird, because it was like he was looking for my approval, you know?"). Then this biker dude came up to him, and he looked angry, and he said, "If you're going to be one of us, bro, it's not all fun and rides, there are responsibilities you have..." And then he said a lot of unflattering things about Ross. And then he saw her standing there, and he gave Ross a look and walked away. So then it was just Ross and Talia there. And Talia said some awkward remark to the effect that "I don't think those things that he said are true about you." And he looked like he was actually really moved by her comment, to both of their surprise.

Ross is a cool guy, I guess, but I could never live his kind of life.

Plus, he's such a brat to his parents, and they gave him everything, really, even if they're not the nicest to him.

I mean, my dad only comes around on Christmas. I guess it could be argued that he has more 'important' things to be doing.

After lunch, we had World History. Our teacher, Mr. Rince, was launching into an in-depth comparative study between the Maogans, some ancient tribe in Polynesia, and the Taens, an old Celtic tribe. He was saying that there were surprising similarities.

In both cultures, he said, there was an inordinate fascination with the setting down of pots. You could see this in their artwork. The focus was not on the pots themselves, but on the action of setting them down.

It was a metaphor, maybe. And maybe the metaphor stood for different things in the different places. I could think of plenty of candidates for what it might mean: near-death experiences, extreme thrill-seeking experiences, communication.

Talia and I went to Dairy Queen after school. She invited me to go with her to a concert by an indie band on Friday. She was, like, totally obsessed with this band. I'd never heard of them. According to her, they're "high concept," they do their performances in these really out-there getups.

I asked her if she'd ever met the band personally. She blushed. "Umm, no," she said, in an utterly unconvincing tone.

I knew that Talia wasn't the type to spill the beans when pressed, so I would have to try and get it out of her later.

Then we finished our ice cream and each went home.

"Make sure you do your homework, honey," my mom called to me.

I walked up to my room and closed the door.

There are a lot of my paintings hanging in my room. Actually, a lot of them are paintings of pots. That's why I disagree with Mr. Rince in his interpretation of the thinking behind the Maogan and Taen artwork. I have feelings about these things.

I wonder what motivates this band that Talia's into. What they're trying to achieve. Obviously they think of themselves as 'Artists', with a capital A. Well, maybe I'm being unfair to them. Maybe if I met the band leader, he would be totally down to earth.

I guess Talia would know something about that.

On a whim, I googled the name of the band, and I couldn't find a single thing. Not even a website. Surprising.

Well, I found a bakery with the same name. In the neighborhood next to ours, strangely. I've never been there.

I lie in bed, and I wonder what Talia wants ( _easier than thinking about what I want, and the things I would actually have to do to get it_ ). Somehow, I can't think of her as a pure artist (even though she's really into DJing and music producing, that's kind of her thing), the kind who's motivated by creating her art to the highest caliber possible. She wants to have fun. She wants to _live_ an artwork, maybe.

But that's a dangerous thing to do.

I should know; I'm the one who paints boring things and lives dangerously.


End file.
